Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said the airport sector is expected to see investments worth ₹1.65 trillion, including from private players, in the coming years.
Scindia said the focus of the government is on ensuring last-mile connectivity for people as well as connecting tier-2 and -3 cities with metros.
Emphasizing that rapid expansion is going to take place, the minister said the government is looking at doubling the number of airports in the country to over 200 in the coming years.
The minister said the government has a plan of close to ₹98,000 crore over the next four years to be deployed in the area of airports alone. Out of which ₹25,000 crore would be from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and ₹22,000 crore for the expansion of airports and the building of new terminals across the country.
"We had 74 airports prior to 2014 in 70 years of India's independence and in the last 8 years, we have built 67 airports... it is my intention by the way to take it close to 200 airports in India, and therefore you want to see a rapid expansion of airport infrastructure networks," the minister noted.
The private sector is looking at investing about ₹67,000 crore in new investments, of which ₹31,000 crore will be deployed on 3 greenfield airport projects, the minister said.
Scindia also mentioned a new policy for smaller aircraft to encourage regional transport aircraft and helicopters and sea planes.
Amid the high growth potential in the country's aviation space, a new airline Akasa is expected to take to the skies in the coming months.
Now-shuttered Jet Airways, under new promoters, also hopes to start operations by the July-Sept quarter, the airline’s chief executive Sanjiv Kapoor said. The airline also hopes to operate proving flights by the April end, using a leased Boeing 737 aircraft, Kapoor said, adding that he hoped to get the AOC (air operators certificate) revalidated by early May.
The civil aviation sector, which was significantly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, is on the recovery path and domestic passenger traffic is slowly touching the pre-pandemic levels. On April 17, the domestic air passenger traffic crossed the 4 lakh mark for the first time in two years.
